P.J.

re: Alan, there's also the fact that Alan/Vanessa were never that serious a couple. I wouldn't think they'd need to remind the audience about Van/Billy's connection, but maybe that was part of it too? There was a period where it looked like Holly/Johnny were vibing. She was trying to build him into a media host, Chelsea was jealous, etc. Frank is even trying to flirt with her and Johnny heads him off. Van and Ross were on the outs, but still kind of circling each other. Then during the AM/Dinah/stolen motorcycle drama (where they'd crashed into Harley) Alan proposes to Van. Van doesn't give him an answer, but Alan lets it "slip" to Ross. Ross storms off. I'm not exactly sure how Meredith got pulled in, but in one episode, they're naked in bed. There's some joke about limp pizza, which can be interpreted as meaning nothing happened. For whatever reason, Vanessa shows up at Ross', and I think Meredith walks out in his robe. Van runs out, and accepts Alan's proposal via telegram. Alan and Reva are in Hawaii on a "business" trip. Alan then goes out to buy Van a ring, which Reva appropriates to teach Alan some kind of lesson. Alan then lets her keep it, and buys a second ring for Van. It should be Nov/Dec '87. Josh and Sonni then show up in Hawaii on their honeymoon, and Van shows up and there's tension there between Reva/Alan/Van about the ring. There's some kind of realization on Reva and Alan's part that their games have hurt Vanessa. I'm not sure a lot of that's up in English, though.

Well, at this point, Van was trying to get Ross' attention...but I guess I get his point a little more now, that he'd need more time to trust that the second Billy crooks his finger she'd drop him, or that part of her interest in Ross is a reaction to realizing he's interest in Holly, which he isn't admitting to. Well, at the end of '92, he' was done being DA and gave up being Senator. I'm not sure if Roger actually put some kind of squeeze on him to punish him for being involved with Blake. But Ross was always bouncing between private practice and DA/Corporate work. And in '94-'95 there was still lingering hostility between Van and Ross over the custody trial, I'd imagine. Vanessa did not attend his wedding to Blake. So them working together while she ran Lewis would've been a no-go. There was a very weird scene of Ann Hamilton's Mindy skeet shooting, when Kimberly Simms' Mindy never acted like a girl who'd done anything more than shop. It wouldn't have hurt if Jordan was still there to help Barbara Crampton in the role, but I just can't see it being more than a band-aid. Crampton just wasn't able to channel some inner "Princess" persona, if you know what I mean. The similarities between Vanessa/Holly and their relationships with their daughters is why I don't understand why Van wasn't more involved in Nursery Stalker story. I'm sure GL would've loved to do a Holly/Roger/Sonni triangle (and maybe add in Van and Ross) if Michelle had stayed.

What's odd---just from a continuity point of view---is that they've completely written out Vanessa's engagement to Alan. If you didn't know the history, Ross makes it sound like Vanessa just walked out on him to go take care of Billy. They had broken up. He had either slept with Meredith or come damn close to it. She was engaged to Alan, and ditched him to go help Billy (not only because it was Billy but essentially because she admitted to herself that she didn't love Alan and knew he was using her as an emotional buffer to Reva) It was less than two years before, and written by Long, so why the situation was oversimplified, I don't understand. Van is unusually ham-handed here, even jokingly comparing Billy to Roger. What I do find appealing about the Ross/Van relationship of this era is that they kind of drift back into teenage behavior. Ross will kind of poke fun of her (NO ONE did that to Vanessa, but Ross could get away with it.) and Van pulls out her coy flirty girl with him. (she'll flash him a smile, ask the "would you, if I wanted you to", and at the Heartbreaker's opening, he's with Nadine and Holly and kind of beckons her over and she won't, she makes him come to her...it's so endearing.) If you watch the preceding episode, Billy is trying to get her attention, and her attention is all on Ross. The set up for Ross/Holly had clearly been in the works before Maeve even returned. But it would've been interesting (if Jordan hadn't returned/or not returned full time) to see a Van/Ross/Holly triangle.

As far as I can tell, that is the last scene between Maeve and Jordan for four years. It's so sad in retrospect. "I'm throwing my arms around you---ungrateful wretch that I am---and telling you I love you madly." Billy and Vanessa had just come home early from their honeymoon. Billy had also surprised Vanessa with a house after their first marriage. I can't find a contract player that was a cop either. Lt Wyatt was there for years, and there's a guy who's kind of hounding Lujack's every move for a while...but that's it. They're pretty random until Rusty and then Mallet. The Reardons also didn't have a priest/nun among their ranks. Then again, maybe that's where the mysterious 7th child was. Other than thinking Jeff Meek came before Scott's return, I agree. Scott managed to make Craig sympathetic while he was set on inducing Meg's miscarriage of Paul's child. Quite a feat. I only begrudgingly accepted Lindstrom when it was clear his Craig was not going to be Teflon ala Block.

As chaotic as Dinah was, yeah, she's pretty amateurish in her schemes. It was always a mistake to kick Blake out of a true business setting. If nothing else, she could've run WSPR and kept dabbling in the local power structure. At some point, GL abandoned the idea of the workplace backbiting (outside of anyone named Spaulding) as a conflict, which really meant that everyone just ran around mostly concerned about their love lives.

Well, Alex had plenty of reason. Alan tended to lose his mind when he became obsessed with a woman. coughRevacough comes to mind.

And why Ross should've moved on. By this time, Block's must've been on the chopping block.

Oh, now I'm SAD thinking that Company ended up in Buzz's hands. (even though i probably knew it at the time, but it was soo long ago.) Mo was always too busy mothering the townfolk.

Yeah, the main problem with setting up RR's Alan is that he has no romantic chemistry with anyone. And I don't think GL really cared about that. They used Alan as a manipulative [!@#$%^&*] villain, and that's really all they wrote for him.

Well, Josh could've bought it for Hawk and Sarah. But I think you're right, I think they only ran it. Whether Mo owned it, or simply was the only Reardon left in town at the time to deal with it---I'm not sure. When Kurt worked there, Bea was still in town, because there's an entire plot point built around her running interference while Kurt and Roxy are trying to outsmart Immigration and see Mindy and Rick on the side. Mindy and Rick move into the boardinghouse's only available room. There's also a kind of running joke once the Reardons start dwindling in town, where random people end up serving at Company. Mindy works there, there's an episode where Henry helps out, Jessie is left in charge while an unexpected crowd rolls in, etc.

Company and Wired for Sound were two completely separate entities. Company was built on to the Reardon boarding house. Wired for Sound was a disco that Vanessa and Trish owned and Tony managed. (I'm not sure if it was physically connected to The Copper Kettle, a restaurant that Barbara Norris opened. Andy Norris was blackmailing people to keep it open. When Andy went off to jail, Trish got it in the divorce settlement. Vanessa invested in it, mostly because at the time she was a bored socialite who flitted from project to project with grand ideas for everything. Oh, and she was Trish's friend.) The Reardons still owned it when Johnny Bauer's parents came to town. They managed it briefly. Maureen would occasionally mention having to deal with it. I'm not sure if Maureen sold it to Hawk and Sarah, or if at some point, Bridget assumed the responsibility. I'm also not sure Buzz ever owned Company. If he did, it would've been after Nola and Bridget left in '97-ish. I assumed at some point, the Cooper diner got a massive upgrade. Towards the end of the show, Buzz runs for mayor because Bill is going to raze the precious Diner.

80's Calla, Warren Andrews, Jim Reardon, Rusty 90's Buzz, Nadine, Jenna, Nick 00s Richard, Jeff, Jonathan, Olivia, Gus, Cyrus, Grady

At this point, it's still Hawk and Sarah.

Julie Bauer? Hope's mother?

He and Cady were involved, at least in the press. But how that relates to his orientation....*shrug*

well...true enough. lol

Wasn't there something about Ben being such a nerd he couldn't get laid, which is why he screwed a prostitute like Selena? Oh, and you think I hate ****? I loathed Hunt Block's Craig. Like, in my bones hated.

1970s admittedly I don't remember much, but I recall like Ben and Eve. It may have had something to do with reading the Little House books and being fascinated by a character with blindness...I don't know. characters (that I am fascinated by now and wish I could watch more of) Ed, Rita, Eve, Justin, Jackie, Alan, Sara 1980s Morgan/Kelly Quint/Nola Billy/Vanessa Rick/Mindy Ross/Carrie--I think I was a little shocked by the split personality angle of it all A-M/Harley ****Ross/Vanessa --I star'd them because I don't organically remember them. Their past fascinates me now. They are such different characters in so many ways, but really were a bedrock of the show infamous for it's revolving door. characters: Alan (CB), Billy, Vanessa, Phillip (GA), Nola, Henry, Alex, Ross, Trish, A-M, Harley 1990s Billy/Vanessa A-M/Eleni Harley/Phillip Harley/Mallet characters: Billy, Vanessa, Alex, Mindy, Bill, Michelle, Holly, Ross, Phillip, Harley, Rick, Henry, Maureen, Bridget, Kat, David, Hamp 2000s Billy/Vanessa Bill/Lizzie characters: Billy, Vanessa, Bill, Lizzie (MR), Ross, Phillip

Hunt Block supposedly had a good sense of humor. He would ad-lib stuff later on ATWT. I never found him that funny.

What?? Craziness, because I can not imagine Alan, Hope, Henry or Bea at Wired for Sound! What a sweet story about his maid. Here I thought she was the least interested extra in the world of extras! She must've been thrilled!

I really didn't think Carlton was joking. I can't help it, but it's so nice to see Nicole laugh. #TeamKial

I'd love to see that episode. As there's both Lee Lawson (and that's probably William Roerick's arm between them) and Elvera Roussel, I wonder if this was supposed to be at the Spauldings, or maybe Amanda's? It's definitely not at Wired for Sound. Baaaad bllooood*

Yes, Reva and Billy were married, all off camera. Mindy's mother had died. When Reva first came to town, she said they'd been married eight years, (which...well, whatever.) Mindy hated her as a kid. But, Reva and Billy were not married when Dylan was conceived. Which really never made sense in the timeline, but timelines rarely add up.

I don't think Sarah returned after she left in '91 to go live with Josh in Italy. Audrey was on the show from '87 to '91-ish. She came on just before Marah was born, IIRC. Some of Alex's wardrobe is so...not good. There's a period where she was the equivalent of Queen Elizabeth---constantly in one solid color. Yes, that's Krista Tesearu (and I'm sure that's not how it's spelled) as Mindy. There was a while they tried to sell a Mindy/Rusty romance (because we can't have enough Shayne/Lewis hookups!) but it just never worked. Terrell Anthony is just not a good actor.

What in the sam hell of "pigeon crapped on my jacket as I walked in the rain" is Jon Lindstrom wearing today? I'm sorry, but sometimes being a emmy award winning costume designer means knowing when to say NO. The same way Hayley's thug cousin should not be dressing like a fashion model for JCPenney. (Yes, I know I'm dating myself.) On the other hand, I loved what Dani wore today. And can we get Shanice's auntie on full time? Because I already love her.